Rekindling the Sacred Fires

“In the light of truth,

and in the warmth of love,

We gather to seek, to sustain, and to share.”

~ Chalice Lighting from1st Unitarian Church Orlando

Dear Friends,

I ~may~ be a bit of an absentee blogger for the next few weeks as I look and write and practice and work and Work towards Imbolc.

I am working on an Imbolc ritual for a group of Pagans.  I am doing it, primarilly, out of obligation.  I said I would do it and so I will.  We should keep our word, both when it is convenient and when it is not; that is the path of integrity, and why we should be damn careful about promising or volunteering for things!

It’s not that they are bad people, its just that the group itself has become incredibly hidebound and cliqueish and self-satisfied and convinced of their own glorious golden energy-ness.  New people with new ideas, experiences, and education, could not possibly have anything to offer this group they are just perfect… at least as they seem to see it.  So I have pulled back from my involvement with them, and Imbolc will be my last entangelment with the group.

It is ironic that this Feast of Rekindling and celebration of New Beginnings will also be, at its heart for me, a blessed release… but I suppose it is appropriate that for me the time between Samhain and Imbolc is sort of The Cross-Roads of the Year…

We celebrate the Honored and Beloved Dead at Samhain when according to the lore the walls between the worlds are at their thinnest, then we turn to celebrating the Honored and Beloved Living at Solstice…

… Of course some Traditions, including Heathenry Celebrate the Honored and Beloved Living AND Dead at the Solstice, or near it…

Samhain is, for many, a spiritual/religious New Years based on the old (and increasingly suspect historically) idea that the Celts celebrated the New Year on Samhain.  (Whilst suspect historically, this is nonetheless valid, but lets cop to our innovations and inspirations shall we?)  For me the New Years will always be the Winter Solstice, hard NOT to think of it as a Major Sabbat and as the Turning of the Year when you spent most of you life to date someplace where you see 4 hours daylight on that day and know undeniably that the days will get longer…  one kind of thirsts for sunlight and Spring in that sort of situation…

Now we are moving towards Imbolc and I am trying to write a Rite that will express my Witchcraft and Honor the Gods and especially Honor the Holy Tides of this Sabbat and celebrate and Honor Brighid.  This is a challenge as, due to an early experience with The Morrigan, left young Witchlet Pax more than a little wary of the Celtic Gods… so I have been doing a lot of research and am STILL debating with myself after 3 months as to whether I want to do a Witches Circle or a more generally Celtic/Druidic inspired Ritual am trying to write an invocation to Brighid…

I had asked a number of trusted folks if they would help, only the Fabulous Jonathan got back to me… but I am doing the right on my own, for a group of people with whom (with only very few exceptions) I will not likely be willing to Circle with again, nor break bread…

And yet even with the mixed feelings I have about this coming Imbolc, I am working on it as best I can.  I am thinking and writing and meditating on it and going to to the best I can for this Holy Day… not only out of obligation, but if this is the ONLY real chance I am to be allowed to give my best for this community, that once meant so much to me to be involved, then I will give them my BEST…for both myself and for The Gods.

Then too as painful as my association with this group was, and as near as it came to causing me to give up on a lot of things, it not only taught me some valuable lessons, but led me to involvement and friendships and much healthier associations that I would not have found without them; so I will celebrate the Sabbat and ballance my accounts with them… paying the coin as the Traditional Witchcraft folks say…

Peace,

Pax

PS- New links have been added to the Online Resources and New Books to the Suggested Reading…

It’s SO on!! (imbolc poetry blogging)

So I was going through my Witches Datebook/Organizer the other night and it occurred that I hadn’t heard anything about this years Imbolc Poetry Blogging?!?  I was alarmed!

I am also realizing that I should probably read Anne’s Hill’s Blog of Gnosis a little more often…

“Life is hard enough; why shouldn’t we take all the full moon weekend leading up to February 2nd to celebrate this patroness of the arts and healing, and read her a poem or two?” ~ Anne Hill, in 5th Annual Brigid Poetry Festival

This event has been going on for years now, and is one of those deeply cherrished events in the Pagan Blogosphere; I would like to encourage any of you Podcaster’s out there to take up this event as your own with an Bridget or Imbolc Poetry reading in one of your February episodes?

My first Poem is actually a repost of a my prayer for Haiti…

A Witches Prayer for the Haitian People

I Pray to You oh Mighty Mother and Forceful Father

I respectfully call out unto All the Holy Powers of the Universe,

Please bring all of Your Love and Compassion and Blessings to bear,

On the Island and the People of Haiti in this time of pain and suffering,

May the Holy Powers of Air inspire them and help them to communicate with their far flung families,

May the Holy Powers of Fire warm them and bring the healing of bodies,

May the Holy Powers of Water quench their thirst and bring the healing to their hearts,

My the Holy Powers of Earth feed them and lend them strength,

Blessed may You be,

Blessed may they be,

So mote it be.

Peace & Poetry to you and yours, and blessings to Haiti,

Pax

Power and Compassion…

Dear Friends and Pagani,

As I look forward into the new year, and to the personal projects I am working on and those affiliate with my local U.U. Church, I also am looking towards causes I can support and campaigns I can look forward to raising funds for in the future.  I wanted to share a few good and inspiring causes here, these will be added to the Charities listing on the Online Pagan Resources Page…

Peace,

Pax

ps- I have, on occasion, been accused of being an idealist… they might be right…


Every Human Has Rights

Every Human Has Rights – Campaign Highlights from Every Human Has Rights on Vimeo.

More information on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, here, and here.


The Charter for Compassion


Standing On The Side of Love

This campaign, originating within the Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations, has already started work and campaigns for Immigration fairness and reform, and for GLBT Civil Rights and Marriage Equality.


The Elders

The Elders are an independent group of eminent global leaders, brought together by Nelson Mandela, who offer their collective influence and experience to support peace building, help address major causes of human suffering and promote the shared interests of humanity.

A number of examples of this work can be found on their webpage, but one excellent example can be shown in former U.S. President Jimmy Carter’s video address to The Parlaiment of Worlds Religions.

President Jimmy Carter addresses the Parliament from Parliament of Religions on Vimeo.


Honoring The New Year: Providing for ourselves and our Pagan communities…

Honoring the New Year, is a series of posts highlighting sites and links, that I find amusing or inspiring when viewed through the lens of my identity and world-view as a Witch and Pagan.


So this is a bit of a rant and exploration of Gardening, Victory Gardening, and Pagan Communal Gardening…

The house I grew up in in Anchorage, Alaska had a huge back yard and a vegetable garden that my father worked in every summer.  I just barely remember the house in Fairbanks, having a greenhouse and garden.

Now live in a rental house, and The Big Guy and our roommate The Amazing Todd aren’t too keen on the idea of our starting a Garden… too expensive or labor intensive they say… I am marshalling my resources and working on my arguements and evidence.

See part of it is just my natural hunger, as an expatriate Alaskan, for a garden.  Alaskans are seriously into gardening, vegetabls and flowers, as after months of long-long Winter nights and cold snowy weather and getting a little stir-crazy… well Alaskans tend to go a little Garden happy in the short Spring and Summer months.  One of my hometown’s nick-names is “The City of Flowers” after all…

I also have a desire to reconnect to the land and the Earth and to Nature here in my new home in Florida, and it seems like Gardening would be a spectacular way to do just that!

I became especially intrigued with vegetable and kitchen gardening in the last year or two as prices have sky-rocketed.  In looking around the net I came across the recent Victory Garden meme…

Victory Gardens were a phenomenon of World War I and II, where folks planted vegetable gardens to help supply themselves and the troops with plenty of food in tough times.

Victory gardens, also called war gardens or food gardens for defense, were vegetable, fruit and herb gardens planted at private residences in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom and Australia[1] during World War I and World War II to reduce the pressure on the public food supply brought on by the war effort. In addition to indirectly aiding the war effort these gardens were also considered a civil “morale booster” — in that gardeners could feel empowered by their contribution of labor and rewarded by the produce grown. Making victory gardens became a part of daily life on the home front.” ~ from the Wikipedia entry

There are a couple of good sites, here and here, about the modern effort to revive the Victory Garden.

Gardening can also provide a much needed savings in gas and food costs, yes, there is an initial investment of money to start the garden… but in the long term there are savings… which is part of the reason I think my parents got into Gardening in the first place.  I was born in 1972, so much of my childhood coincided with the recession of the late 1970’s… folks were very concerned with saving money and providing for their families and gardening is one way to do that.

Many of us, as Pagans, are also concerned with our relationship with the natural world around us.  Gardening, even container gardening, is one way to to experience that relationship and to build upon it!

I’d also like to mention the idea of co-operative gardening for our community, or as I think of it Pagan Communal Gardening.  Not all of us have big back yards, and some of us have the land but not the time, this is where we can not only provide for ourselves but encourage our community at the same time…

Get together with a few friends from the Pagan community and form a Gardening club… you meet once a week at the Garden site, work the land, hang out, have some fun… when it comes time to harvest each member gets a share of the harvest to do with as they see fit.  Maybe each of you needs the extra food… or maybe some of you want to offer it to a local Pagan community Elder in need, or perhaps you want to donate it to your local branch of Feeding America in the name of your local Pagan community!

Together, we as a community can save money, provide extra food for ourselves and our neighbors, and do good in the world!  All in an afternoon’s work!


Here are a few links from my own files… when in doubt talk to your local nursery and garden stores and search out your State or regional dept. of Agriculture… they often have resources for the home gardener, the last of the links is a good example of this…

Backyard Gardener (d0t) com

Florida Gardener (dot) com

Kitchen Gardeners International

National Native Plant Nursery Guide

Vegetable Gardening in Containers

Invoking the Power of the Pagan Dollar 2.0

I am, admittedly partially repeating myself here, but this idea feels important on a deep intuitive level… and it keeps coming back to my thoughts, the ideas circling like sharks ready to devour my complacency whole… so here it is…


We need to build the economic self-sufficiency of our local, regional, and national Pagan communities!

We are facing some of the worst economic times, certainly in my lifetime, and it just seems to me as if we, as a community, haven’t really been talking about this.  I say this as someone who is a self-confessed blog-a-holic, a member of multiple yahoo-groups, and an avid surfer of the Internet, and who is not all that hard to track down either in his local community or by friends nationwide.  I’ve seen some small mention of individual challenges and responses to the hard times we are in, but nowhere have I seen discussions of how we as a community can face and deal with these troubled times.  I think it’s about time we started talking about this folks, because the tough times are not going to go away overnight!

I first started thinking about Pagan community economic self-sufficiency in the months after Ellwood “Bunky” Bartlett won the lottery, and there were a lot of discussions and posts about his windfall and opinions of all sorts were floated about how a Pagan with a lot of it should spend his money.  Then, too, there are the many discussions I’ve heard, or read, about various Pagan owned businesses that shut down for a lack of support.  I’ve also been thinking a lot about how various other sub-cultural communities have focused their economic power inward and reaped no small rewards, including any number of ethnic and religious and other sub-cultural communities.

All of these influences have had me thinking a lot lately about how we in the Pagan community could build a stronger community through economic empowerment.  For me, economic empowerment means that we, as a community, are focusing our economic decisions on those choices that strengthen our community locally, regionally, and nationally.  To strengthen our Pagan community, in this case, means spending our money within our community as much as is possible and practical.

Time after time in the history of my beloved United States we have seen how the ethnic, sub-cultural,  and religious communities that form up the patchwork quilt of the United States have been able to strengthen the their communities and build their social ties, and their economic, and political power by concentrating money into community owned businesses and interests.  These decisions include supporting Pagan-owned and Pagan friendly businesses, as well as supporting local and national Pagan community organizations, and Pagan charities.

Pagan Owned and Pagan Friendly Businesses

The first thing that I would like to say is that a Pagan business is not necessarily a metaphysical or occult shop.  I know, I know, some of you out there are going…

“Well, DUH!  Pax!”

But it was both interesting and instructive for me to notice that many, many times, on many separate occasions, when I tried to communicate with others about the idea of supporting our Pagan businesses that the idea of a Pagan business often seemed to be all but consumed by the idea of a metaphysical book and paraphernalia shop.  When I look at many Pagan stores or periodicals, most of the adverts are for fortunetellers, workshops, or various metaphysical shops.

Where are our doctors and realtors and other professionals?  Where are the Pagan owned home repair businesses, yard services, and plumbers?  They are out there, I know because I have run into many of them on the Web and in book stores and at open Circles and community socials.  Sadly, a lot of our Pagan business owners and Pagan professionals who may be active in the Pagan community are to one degree or another closeted for fear of the very real economic effects of discrimination and prejudice.  Even with full protection under the law you can still be fired, or have your business ruined by a word of mouth campaign or boycott, if you are Pagan.

These fears are real, and serious.  Being out as a Pagan can be hazardous to one’s livelihood.  What can we do about this?

Within my own experience in the GLBT community, in local newsletters and in local Gay venues such as bars and community centers you will often see ads for various GLBT owned businesses.  Realtors, lawyers, doctors, books & gift shops, florists, mechanics, the local Metropolitan Community Church (a GLBT friendly Christian denomination), massage therapists, psychotherapists… all of these and more will have advertisements in their local GLBT newsletters and posted in Queer friendly businesses, as well as in GLBT community directories… jokingly often called “the pink pages” after the “yellow pages” of U.S. phone directories.  These community directories are often free booklets that are paid for with advertising fees and donation.

Do you think that GLBT lawyers, doctors, and realtors, are nervous about the possibility of being out could affect their livelihood?  Yet still many are willing to advertise in GLBT community directories and publications.  Why?

Two reasons…

One, those of us in the GLBT community have for nearly 30 years subscribed in a broad sense to the philosophy of supporting our own.  If there is a Gay owned or Gay friendly business in my area I am darn well going to use them first… keep the money in the GLBT family!  Because of this those who advertise in “pink pages” and in GLBT publications know that they are reaching out to their own community, or to a community they are friendly towards, and one that will actively spend it’s money in house first!

Reason number two, is that for the most part the people most likely to actively discriminate against GLBT owned and friendly businesses are the people least likely to willingly pick up, much less read, a GLBT publication where they would be advertised.  As for the “pink pages”, well those are usually only available in Gay bars, GLBT owned businesses, and GLBT Community Centers; none of which are on the bigots top ten list of places to go into or be seen!

To be fair I have seen some ads for paralegals and therapists in some Pagan bookstores, and that is a start.  In searching the Internet, I was only able to find one comprehensive listing for a Pagan community business directory; a similar search for a Gay business directory yielded ~ many ~ interesting ~ results.

Once we start identifying our locally owned Pagan and Pagan friendly businesses we must commit to supporting them!  When we keep our money in the community, the community will become stronger.  By supporting our Pagan businesses we also strengthen their ability to support themselves and in turn our community.

Pagan Community Organizations and Charities

A lot of you are probably thinking of groups like the Asatru Folk Assembly or Covenant of the Goddess, and yes I would certainly encourage Pagans to support some of our national spiritual/religious organizations.   I would also never hesitate to encourage you to support your local Pagan Community groups.  Is a local Pagan group holding a fund-raising dinner for a campground or community center or local charity?  Then go eat a few plates… even on a work or school night already!

Just as there are more types of Pagan business than the occult supply shop, there are other types of Pagan community organizations that we could come together to support through either our membership or charitable donations.

Cherry Hill Seminary is a graduate level Pagan Seminary with counseling and public ministry programs that is currently working at creating a Masters of Divinity Program.

Then there are programs like the annual National Pagan Leadership Skills Conference, now in its 5th year, fostering workshops on issues of Finance, Pastoral Care, and Group Facilitation.

Pagan professional organizations have come and gone, yet some remain.  The best current example is, of course, The Officers of Avalon.  This international benevolent organization for Pagan Law Enforcement Officer’s and Emergency Services Personnel has also established an active non-profit charitable wing Avalon Cares, which has done some fundraising and participated in several aid and relief efforts!  Avalon Cares is one of a number of Pagan organizations doing charitable work, and worthy of Pagan community investment.  Circle Sanctuary maintains a list of Pagan groups doing charitable work, for more examples.

Organizations like these, and supporting them as a community, are, I believe, the next step in our evolution as a community.  Think about it… having a fully accredited Pagan Seminary… is the idea of a Pagan University, a real academic 4-year degree University that happens to be run by, and offering some programs specifically of interest to, Pagans all that radical or far off a notion?

Imagine the impact, for example, if each of us focused our charitable donations to Avalon Cares for one year?  Imagine if every Pagan group in the United States focusing it’s food drives towards a specific food bank or hunger fighting organization like Feeding America (formerly Second Harvest), and then specifically donating in the name of the U.S. Pagan community.  Imagine if each of us donated even 3 dollars to Cherry Hill Seminary.  Imagine, not only, the positive impact we could make in the world, but the positive impact that would have in our community?

We all want a world where our spiritual path, our faith or belief system, is simply a part of who we are; not something that has the potential to get us fired or harassed.  We want a world where the leaders of our cities, regions, and nations address issues of concern to our community; rather than writing us off as nuts or “not a religion”.  We want a world where the press will jump all over a public official making ignorant of bigoted remarks about Pagans, rather than just letting it pass or chuckling.

Empowering ourselves economically is the pathway to that world.

Honoring The New Year: Raise your glass in a toast!!

Honoring the New Year, is a series of posts highlighting sites and links, that I find amusing or inspiring when viewed through the lens of my identity and world-view as a Witch and Pagan.


So I was surfing the internet the other day, trying to correct and expand some of the links on my “Links!” page… it was brought to my attention that several of the links originally listed in Ceremonial Magick more properly belonged in their own area under Thelema…when I discovered todays amusement…

Thelema Mountain Vineyards

No!  Seriously!!

South Africa is, over all, rather blessed for a country its size with a fair amount of wine country, a long history of viticulture and vintnery.  Ostensibly named for the Abbey of Thelema from Rabelais’ “Gargantua and Pantagruel” this Vineyard and Winery is in  Stellenbosch, which is the epicenter of the Wine making industry of South Africa.   Stellenbosch is the Loire, The Napa or Okanagan Valley of South Africa.

Now is definitely the time to try wines some of the superlative wines  from South Africa as global warming will undoubtedly have some variety limiting and production altering effects on this viticultural earthly paradise.

See, wine grapes come in all different varieties… species too, but the main species for wine making is Vitis Vinifera… and these different varieties evolved in some very specific areas and under specific conditions… and these are the conditions that certain grape varieties thrive under.

This is why you have some French Champagne houses looking at investing in land in the South of Britain as an early investment against global warming. The Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Pinot Meunier grapes that are used in Champagne may not be suitably grown in the Champagne region by the end of this century.  No word yet on what they’d actually call French made Champagne grown somewhere other than Champagne… since you’d pretty much HAVE to make it near the vinyards to ensure quality…

…did I mention that wine grapes are finicky?

Anyhow now is definitely the time to start trying out wines from South Africa, while they are at their finest and the peak of their game.  If you’re looking for an investment in the future start looking to unconventional wine regions like Canada… yes, I said Canada.

Now the observant amongst you may have observed that when talking about Thelema Vineyards, I said “Ostensibly named after…” well go read their about our name page and tell me what you think…

Peace,

Pax

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Honoring the New Year: One Person Makes a Difference!

Honoring the New Year, is a series of posts highlighting sites and links, that I find amusing or inspiring when viewed through the lens of my identity and world-view as a Witch and Pagan.


One Person Makes a Difference!

Hello Dear Pagans, and PFF’s!*

So this site is actualy the one that inspired this little series of posts.  I was watching CNN earlier today and saw an article on the Green Bag Lady and her efforts to spread Green shopping/gift bags around to anyone who wants one and I just found it delightful and inspiring!

Teresa is a professor of Digital Photography and an artist.  She started making re-usable fabric shopping bags for her family, and found she (like a lot of fabric crafters) had a huge pile of extra fabric she wasn’t doing anything with… so she made some extra bags and gave them away.

She decided to keep doing this.  She makes fabric shopping/gift bags and gives them away, for free.  Her philosophy is…

They are a gift. I want you to feel obligated to use them, that is why I have you promise to use them instead of paper or plastic. If you were to buy them from me, they become a commodity and there is no obligation any longer because you own it. A gift is owned by both people. I know that usually one bag is not enough but if I GIVE you one, you might start thinking about your usage and buy other bags to supplement your collection (and maybe even start thinking about recycling, composting, consumption and consumerism).”

~from her blog/site “Why am I doing This”

Not only does she give away the bags, she shares her patterns for shopping bags, gift wrap bags, and produce bags with others and has inspired others to start similar projects!  Just one person deciding to carry her commitment to Greener living forward in a new direction.

In the face of War and Economic Crisis it can be easy to forget that each of us has Power.  The power to choose our reactions, the power to chose our actions, the power to DO something rather than nothing.  Each of us, each and every single one of us, can make a difference in the world; if we invoke our power and choose to do something.

Folks like Teresa remind us of that.

Thanks Teresa!!

Peace,

Pax


*PFF= Pagan Friendly Folk.